by John Lowe, USA TODAY Sports

by John Lowe, USA TODAY Sports

Hall of Fame right-hander Bob Feller never pitched in the minors. His overwhelming fastball propelled him to the majors with Cleveland in 1936 when he was 17.

By the time he was 22, Feller had led the American League in strikeouts for four straight seasons and had won 107 games.

Brad Ausmus, now the Detroit Tigers' skipper, might become the Bob Feller of managers.

Ausmus, a catcher for 18 seasons, never has served either of the two apprenticeships often required for a major league managerial candidate: minor league manager or major league coach.

Yet Ausmus, 44, became the hottest managerial candidate around. He interviewed for at least three managerial jobs this offseason, including the Tigers' opening to succeed Jim Leyland.

Ausmus seems so inherently capable of managing that he could be the dugout equivalent of Feller: a standout that not only bypassed any professional apprenticeship, but showed from the outset he didn't need it.

General manager Dave Dombrowski is moving onto doubly unproven ground: not only does Ausmus not having any managing or coaching experience, but Dombrowski and Ausmus have never been in the same organization and thus haven't gotten to observe each other at close range over the tumults of a season.

Dombrowski indicated before the managerial search began that the Tigers don't want to hire a manager who needs a learning curve. They have a team and payroll designed to make a run at winning the World Series next year. There's no time for a manager to lose games because he's growing into the job.

Perhaps Dombrowski thinks that Mike Matheny's success in St. Louis shows that Ausmus could immediately lead a veteran team to the World Series.

Like Ausmus, Matheny was a calm, highly skilled catcher who played several years in the big leagues. Like Ausmus, Matheny had never managed or coached in pro ball when the Cardinals hired him to succeed Tony La Russa two years ago.

In Matheny's first year on the job, the Cardinals came within one win of the World Series. This season, the Cardinals did make it and lost to Boston. So if the inexperienced Matheny can immediately maintain the excellence of La Russa, why can't Ausmus do the same in following Leyland?

The most obvious answer is familiarity.

Matheny was a special assistant with the Cardinals when he was hired. He knew the general manager who hired him, John Mozeliak. In his postplaying days, Matheny had gone to spring training with the Cardinals as an instructor and gotten to know many players.

Ausmus has no such familiarity with the Tigers' players. Most probably never have met him. In that sense, Dombrowski would be taking an even bigger chance on the inexperienced Ausmus than the Cardinals did on the inexperienced Matheny.

The Tigers might lose some games at least early in the season because Ausmus and the players are figuring each other out.

Ausmus spent part of the first half of his playing career with the Tigers, and it was obvious then that he had managerial potential.

He could hold a highly intelligent conversation that involved either a lot of baseball or none at all; he was unflappable and witty; he was confident and congenial; he was pinpoint eloquent. And he was a catcher, the best position for a future manager because it's the only one that teaches both sides of the game so thoroughly.

Ausmus batted more than 7,000 times, so he knows all the challenges of hitting. He caught more than 15,000 innings, so he knows all about pitching.

Ausmus and Dombrowski missed each other by a year in Detroit. Dombrowski's predecessor Randy Smith, a huge fan of Ausmus, traded him after the 2000 season for a reason that, in the Tigers' current abundance, seems quaint: payroll-cutting.

Dombrowski does know the other three candidates who are known to have interviewed for the job.

He was Expos general manager when Tim Wallach was that team's third baseman; he was Marlins GM when Rick Renteria managed four years in that club's farm system; and has been Tigers president and GM for these past eight years that Lloyd McClendon has been on Leyland's coaching staff.

But perhaps Ausmus' baseball intellect, like Feller's fastball, is the kind that rarely comes along. Perhaps that intellect makes him immensely qualified despite his lack of experience. Perhaps Ausmus' mind is like Feller's fastball: faster than anyone else's.